South Korea ruling party retains majority in parliament

Seoul: South Korea's ruling party has retained control of parliament in parliamentary election, seen as a key test of sentiment before the presidential vote in December, officials said.

The conservative New Frontier Party (NFP) won 152 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly yesterday, 25 more than the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), which was tipped to score an easy victory in earlier opinion polls.

"People made wise choices," President Lee Myung-Bak said in a statement.

"The government will do its best to manage state affairs in a stable manner and take care of the people's livelihood," said Lee, who cannot constitutionally stand for a second term.

The ruling party had initially struggled to preserve its parliamentary majority to pave the way for a second successive presidential victory in eight months' time. It had 165 seats in the outgoing parliament against 89 for the DUP.

"The DUP failed to turn public calls for punishing the... ruling party into reality. We apologise for disappointing (supporters)," DUP secretary general Park Sun-Sook told reporters, effectively conceding defeat.

"We will sincerely think over what today's election means and try ceaselessly to be reborn as a party the people can lean and rely on."

The leftist opposition Unified Progressive Party took 13 seats while five seats went to the right-wing Liberty Forward Party.

The election is largely seen as a bellwether for the presidential vote in eight months' time.

The outcome is expected to bolster the position of NFP leader Park Geun-Hye, a presidential hopeful. She has tried to rebuild the NFP since she took over last December.